Belfast rappers Kneecap share their ‘10 Rules To Live By’ - reaffirm solidarity for Palestine

Belfast rappers Kneecap are having a moment this year, and it’s amply deserved.

For those who haven’t yet had the pleasure, Kneecap are two MCs, Móglaí Bap and Mo Chara, along with DJ Provaí. Fond of merging Gaelic with English, balaclava-wearing satire with socially conscious lyrics (and plenty of drug and sex references), the band have been active since 2017.

Their dominance on the worldwide cultural scene shifted into gear this year, kickstarted by their eponymous biographical film, a “Trainspotting-meets-8 Mile” biopic directed by Rich Peppiatt – which is nominated at this year’s European Film Awards.

In our review, we called Kneecap “fun, raucous and heartfelt.” Read our full review.

This year also saw the release of their debut album ‘Fine Art’, an engaged LP that’s unlike anything you’ll hear all year and one of our favourite albums of 2024.

Now, the rap trio has shared their outlook on life in a new Instagram post. They revealed that WePresent – WeTransfer’s digital arts and editorial platform – had reached out and asked for them to share a “manifesto”.

They obliged, sharing a list of 10 rules that they live by, and would recommend to others.

Here are Kneecap’s 10 Rules To Live By:

1. Don’t be sitting on nothing. It’s better to take part than to be on the sidelines. Don’t say it, do it.

2. Time goes by despite tour hardships, despite crises, despite the time on the clock.

3. Don’t be eternally hard on yourself. The worries of the world are heavy enough.

4. Take a breath, say hello to a stranger, ‘give a dog a pet’, it’s the wee things that add real wealth to life.

5. Try not to be bitter – take it that you and the person in front of you are one and the same.

6. There’s a value to friends, culture, language and relationships that money people can’t make a profit off, thank god.

7. Welcome diversity – with people, food and other perspectives of life.

8. Be outspoken, leave your mark and stand up for your people. Stand up for Palestine, and stand up for oppressed people around the world.

9. Don’t be afraid of any change, it’s a natural part of life.

10. Be sure, when your race is run, that you have left your all on this world. That you gave your heart and your soul and everything in between. 

Pretty sound advice.  

The band's Rule 8 aligns with the band’s outspoken pro-Palestinian stance, with Móglaí Bap having recently raised over £30,000 (€36,000) for Gaza food parcels by running 10k a day on tour and the band arranging a Gig for Gaza charity show alongside Primal Scream and Paul Weller, which will take place on 13 December at O2 Academy Brixton.  

The band join Irish post-punk rockers Fontaines D.C., who cancelled their scheduled Istanbul concert earlier this year, in solidarity with the people of Palestine.  

These actions come in the wake of the mass exodus of several artists at numerous UK festivals this summer.   

From The Great Escape to Download and Latitude, artists have boycotted the festivals over their sponsorship with British bank Barclays, who has been accused of trying to “art wash” its reputation by sponsoring music events while allegedly increasing its investment in arms companies that trade with Israel.   

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) revealed the bank's investments of over £1 billion in shares and providing over £3 billion in loans.

In other news, Kneecap recently won a discrimination case against the British government, over the group’s arts council funding being revoked.

The band was awarded a £14,250 (€17,120) grant under the Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) in February this year. This was then revoked by the then-UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch. 

A spokesperson for Badenoch said at the time that the government did not want to fund “people that oppose the United Kingdom itself”. 

Kneecap challenged Badenoch’s decision at Northern Ireland’s High Court, claiming it was “unlawful and procedurally unfair”. The court agreed with the group at the hearing late November and awarded it the MEGS grant money back. 

“For us this action was never about £14,250, it could have been 50 pence. The motivation was equality,” the group said in a statement. “This was an attack on artistic culture, an attack on the Good Friday Agreement itself and an attack on Kneecap and our way of expressing ourselves.”